rain and hail, cool comfort

The A/C came on for only about a half hour yesterday afternoon, starting at 4:30 P.M. Shortly after that a big rainstorm arrived. That caused the temperature to drop almost 20 degrees within minutes.

A handful of motorcycles pulled off the road in front of our house as the rain started. A Chevy Suburban pulled in behind them. All of the motorcycles had passengers; they dismounted and climbed into the Suburban. A bit of hail, about a half-inch in diameter, was falling along with the rain. The motorcyclists took a few minutes to don their rain gear, then they all left again. We were hoping that they were only going to the motorcycle campground down the road.

About four miles down the road from us, past the campground, the hail was much larger. Our local TV station showed a photo (sent in by a viewer in Cruso) of a pair of hands holding three large hailstones, probably 3" in diameter. When I drove down to Bethel this morning there was a lot of tree debris left over from the hailstorm; lots and lots of leaves spread around peoples' yards and in the road.

Our outdoor temperature once again peaked at 2 P.M. with a temperature of 90℉. I don't think it will get quite that warm today.